4:40PM, think I'll quit early today! Ahhhh! The accuracy guarantee. I checked around to see what others were doing and choose those that I felt were relevant. I guarantee 1/2" with proper handloads, 3/4" with factory, if I supply the barrel and do the stock work/bedding, too. If the customer hands me or ships me the barrel, no guarantee. I don't know how it's been handled or whether it's been used as a lever. If my customer has the barrel shipped to me by the maker, I'll honor the guarantee. Some brands of barrels I just won't use, regardless. If the customer wants to do his own stock work/ bedding, no guarantee. A rifle is a "system", not just parts that have been assembled. Take the finest machine work and "stuff/cram" it into a stock and you may not get the results you desire. I don't care how many rifles you say you have bedded. I keep a lot of factory ammo in the shop. Some will ask the price. The ammo isn't for sale, it's there for test firing, for chamber and accuracy of factory ammo. I handload 'batches' at a time and use a known load straight from a loading manual. It'll tell me what I need to know, within a few rounds. With todays barrels and methods it's not hard to meet the guarantee. I don't load ammo for anyone except myself. I operate under a 01 Dealers License. I will forward loading data if it is requested as it is all 'published' data from a loading manual. The customer needs to do any of the 'fine tuning' a handload may require. If he wants me to do that, it's at my hourly rate,,,,, time + materials. I find most accuracy problems are shooter related. Poor reloading practice, improper or lack of cleaning, expecting all factory ammo to shoot the same, or, I'm sorry to say, just don't know how to shoot. I've met those who think the rifle does it all. No rifle will stop a flinch. No rifle preforms well when its trigger is jerked instead of squeezed. A 10 1/2lb. .300 Ultra Mag requires different handling from a bench rest than a 17lb. .22PPC. There is such a thing a 'muzzle flip' and the bullet won't land where you were last looking. I use what I call "shop glass" for the scope when test firing if the customer doesn't supply a scope. My "shop glass" is a 12 x 40 Leupold with fine crosshairs. Why anyone would mount a 'cheap' glass on a custom is beyond me, but I have, and more than just a couple of times. Any "guarantee" has to work both ways. Too harsh? I've got work backed-up buy 1-3 months (at times, longer), depending on the time of the year, and that condition has existed for the past 15+ years. If we can't agree, well........... I now provide the test target as my 'proof'. After a rifle leaves me, I no longer have control of the ammo it's fed or the care it is given. If the customer complains right away of accuracy 'issues', I'll gladly look it over and test fire it again. If he decides a few hundred rounds or a month later it doesn't shoot like it did when it was new, well.... If it's something I've done or could have/should have done better, no charge. If it's a problem of the customers' own making, time + materials. I usually pass along a lot of info to my customer. If he decides to ignore that info, there's really not much I can do about it. In the past, I've "given away" countless hours of my time to those who just "don't know". (that Hawkeye Bore scope is a heck of a tattle-tale)
